A Hoosier humbling

Indiana drills Boilers by 27

Indiana drills Boilers by 27

January 11, 2007|CURT RALLO Tribune Staff Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- At least Purdue coach Matt Painter could manage a smile as he sat in the crimson and cream media room at Assembly Hall. A torrid Indiana attack had just made his Boilermakers go ugly early in an 85-58 loss Wednesday night in Big Ten college basketball action. Painter, who looked as though he had been facing a swarming Indiana defense, found the silver lining in his team's 27-point loss in the fact that the game was not broadcast to many households in the state. "Nobody watched it," Painter said of the game and its possible impact on recruiting in the state. "It's great. It's a (heck) of a ploy." Purdue's ugliness on the court wasn't the only sour moment in the game. There was a brief confrontation between Painter and Indiana guard Earl Calloway after Calloway nailed a 3-pointer. Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson had Calloway immediately apologize to Painter. Indiana, 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, hammered Purdue with its worst loss in the bitter in-state rivalry since a 106-65 blowout of the Boilermakers in 1992, a game that Purdue coach Matt Painter suffered through as a player for the Boilermakers. With the victory, Indiana became the ninth school to reach the 1,600-victory mark in college basketball. Purdue, 12-5 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten, suffered its 27th consecutive loss in an opponent's arena. The last time the Boilermakers walked off of an enemy court with the victory was in February of 2004 at Minnesota. Indiana guard A.J. Ratliff returned from a wrist injury that kept him out of two games to slug the Boilermakers with 16 points, two steals and two blocks. Joey Shaw scored 19 points to lead Indiana. Shaw and Ratliff led a devastating Indiana attack in which the Hoosiers' bench outscored Purdue, 46-8. Carl Landry scored 13 points for Purdue, Chris Kramer 12 and David Teague 11 for Purdue. Landry and Teague, Purdue's top two scorers, were limited to only a combined six shots in the second half. Painter, who reached the boiling point and was hit with a technical foul during a 14-0 Indiana run in the second half, downplayed the incident with Calloway. "It was the same situation where, when he looked at the bench and said something ... I just didn't think that was right," Painter said of Calloway. "It's not the storyline here. We got beat, bad, by a better basketball team, and we have to go back and improve. "(Calloway) came back and said something to me," Painter said. "I'm not going to take it from a kid. I'm sorry, I'm just not. I'm going to stick up for my team, whether it's the referees, the opposing players, the opposing coaches. I just think there's a right way to go about it, but when someone crosses that line, I think you need to stand up for yourself and your team. "You can get your butts kicked and your back against the wall," Painter continued. "You've got to have class. You've got to play the game with class. You can still play hard, you can still be ornery, but you've got to have class. It's one of those things it's water under the bridge." Indiana coach Sampson immediately responded to the incident. "I sent Earl down to apologize, and he did," Sampson said. "Earl went down and shook Matt's hand and apologized to him. You don't do that (disrespect an opposing coach), and I told him if he did it again, he'd be sitting his butt on the bench. "This is a great rivalry, it's a great series," Sampson said. "I want classy play on both sides. Purdue's a classy program. We're a classy program. That (the exchange between Calloway and Painter) should never happen again." PURDUE (12-5): Watt 3-6 2-3 8, Landry 4-6 5-6 13, Teague 4-11 2-2 11, Kramer 2-7 7-8 12, Grant 2-4 2-3 6, Lutz 0-2 0-0 0, Riddell 0-1 0-0 0, Crump 1-5 0-0 2, Green 2-3 0-3 4, Uchendu 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 19-46 18-25 58. INDIANA (11-4): D.White 4-6 0-0 8, Stemler 2-6 0-0 5, Bassett 3-7 3-4 11, Wilmont 1-4 0-0 2, Calloway 4-9 4-4 13, Suhr 0-2 2-2 2, Ratliff 6-6 0-0 16, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, M.White 1-2 0-0 2, Shaw 5-6 7-8 19, Keeling 3-3 1-2 7, Ahlfeld 0-0 0-0 0, Taber 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-51 17-20 85. Halftime -- Indiana 34-22. 3-Point Goals -- Purdue 2-9 (Kramer 1-1, Teague 1-3, Crump 0-1, Green 0-1, Riddell 0-1, Lutz 0-2), Indiana 10-20 (Ratliff 4-4, Shaw 2-2, Bassett 2-4, Calloway 1-3, Stemler 1-3, Suhr 0-1, Wilmont 0-3). Fouled Out -- Shaw. Rebounds -- Purdue 27 (Teague 6), Indiana 30 (Wilmont 10). Assists -- Purdue 6 (Landry, Teague 2), Indiana 19 (Calloway 5). Total Fouls -- Purdue 20, Indiana 23. A -- 17,287. 20. A -- 6,0